Data storage devices (such as hard disk drives (HDDs), solid state hybrid drives (SSHDs), or solid-state storage devices (solid-state drives (SSDs), flash sticks or SD cards) that are bus-powered may be connected to a host compute device (such as a PC or laptop computer) via a power bus and at least one data bus. For some data storage devices (such as bus-power HDDs and SSDs), the power bus and the at least one data bus reside in a cable (such as a USB, USB-C, or Thunderbolt cable), which provides a connection to the host compute device. Other bus-powered data storage devices (such as flash sticks and SD cards) plug directly into the host compute device and, therefore, do not need a cable to connect to the power bus and the at least one data bus of the host. In the bus-power data storage devices, power is received from the host compute device via the power bus and data is exchanged between the devices via the at least one data bus.
When a user wants to disconnect a bus-powered data storage device from a host compute device, there is a proper removal procedure to follow that depends on the operating system in use on the host compute device. For example, if a Windows® 7 operating system is being used, the user right clicks on the on-screen icon representing the bus-powered data storage device on the screen of the host compute device and selects “Eject” from a pull down menu. After selecting “Eject” from the pull menu, the message “Safe to Remove Hardware” appears at the bottom of the screen, and the user can safely disconnect the bus-powered data storage device from the host compute device. If the proper removal procedure is not followed, a loss of data may occur in the bus-powered data storage device by improperly disconnecting it from the host compute device.